America's Deadly Trans Backlash

[DonViejo]

Jay Michaelson

Transgender people, some of the most vulnerable members of the LGBT community, are paying with discrimination for the victories of some of the more privileged.

For years, some mainstream gay activists said to the transgender community, “Just wait—first we’ll get our rights, and then you’ll get yours.”

As offensive and patronizing as that was, what has come to pass is far worse. The anti-LGBT backlash is here, and transgender populations are suffering the most—even though they hadn’t won that many legal victories in the first place. They’re getting the backlash before winning anything to lash back against.

Let’s start with the worst. Five transgender women of color have already been murdered in 2015, and just last weekend, a (white) transgender woman was stabbed to death by her own father.

The way these attacks are covered by most media outlets adds indignity to injury. First, they’re barely reported at all—in 2012, I wrote in these pages that the “media ignores rash of assaults on transgender women.” That hasn’t changed.

more
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/02/23/the-hunting-of-trans-americans.html